[POSTPONED] Up Close with Xyza Cruz Bacani: Artist in Service
VIEW EVENT DETAILSUp Close

Through their creative expressions, artists have and continue to utilize the transformative power of art as a form of protest; to draw attention to social issues; and to inspire individuals to take action and create change. Do artists have a responsibility to serve as a force for social change?
Join us for an intimate conversation with Xyza Cruz Bacani, a Filipina interdisciplinary artist about the circuitous journey she has taken to becoming a widely-acclaimed photographer and her commitment to using art in the service of greater societal good. Having worked as a second-generation domestic worker in Hong Kong for almost a decade, Xyza is passionate about amplifying the voices of the marginalized communities and advocating for their rights, raising awareness about under-reported stories, and promoting arts-based initiatives and collaborations to catalyze social change.
Speakers
Xyza Cruz Bacani, a Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellow, has exhibited her work worldwide, and won several awards in photography. She is also the recipient of a resolution passed by the Philippines House of Representatives in her honor, HR No.1969. Xyza is an Asia 21 Next Generation Fellow (Class of 2018), the WMA Commission grantee in 2017, a Pulitzer Center and an Open Society Moving Walls 2017 grantee. She is one of the BBC's 100 Women of the World 2015, 30 Under 30 Women Photographers 2016, Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2016, and author of the book We Are Like Air. She received her M.A. in Arts Politics, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University in 2022.

Susan Jakes (moderator) is Editor-in-Chief of ChinaFile and a Senior Fellow at Asia Society’s Center for China Analysis. From 2000-2007, she reported on China for Time magazine, first as a reporter and editor based in Hong Kong and then as the magazine’s Beijing Correspondent. She was awarded the Society of Publishers in Asia’s Young Journalist of the Year Award for her coverage of Chinese youth culture. In 2003, she broke the story of the Chinese government’s cover-up of the SARS epidemic in Beijing, for which she received a Henry Luce Public Service Award. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, and The Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications.
This program is a part of the Up Close series which presents interactive and inspirational sessions with the emerging and established leaders from across Asia-Pacific sharing their leadership stories.
Event Details
Asia Society
725 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021